A potentially basketball-sized meteor streaked through the sky over Canada on Thursday, and as it did, was caught by a plethora of cameras, resulting in some spectacular videos.
The resulting fireball, which was visible over Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan at around 2:46 a.m. (UT), was reported to the American Meteor Society (AMS) by 95 people. The meteor was even spotted by some witnesses in the United States located in North Dakota.
Scott Young, planetarium astronomer at the Manitoba Museum, explained to Newsweek that this is the second meteorite sighting over this region in the past few days.
He explained: "Both objects appear to have been bolides, the larger, brighter cousin of the typical meteor or 'shooting star.' Several bolides a day hit the Earth globally, but most go unobserved because they're over the ocean, or it's cloudy underneath them, or they're in the daytime.
"These objects are special both because of their brightness which tells us they are much larger than the average meteor. Each object might have been the size of a small pebble up to the size of a baseball or even a basketball. It's hard to tell until all the footage is analyzed."
Young said that because they happened on back-to-back nights, it's unclear if there's a connection between the objects or if it's just a coincidence that they occurred so close together.
Young also said that there is a chance some remains of the meteors made it to the ground. "It's possible that pieces may have reached the ground from either of these events, although it's equally likely that the object disintegrated as it passed through the atmosphere.
"That's why the videos are so useful—they help nail down the trajectory and that narrows down the search area," he said.
Of the 95 witnesses, eight submitted videos of the event, which has been designated AMS Event:1984-2022, on its eastward trajectory towards Ontario.
One video, shown at the beginning of this article and uploaded to the AMS Youtube channel by Alix and Jason Cruickshank, captures the meteor brightly lighting up in the sky over Winnipeg, as an oblivious cyclist rides past their home.
Trevor Bryant also caught a video of the meteor which he uploaded to the YouTube channel Brandon Astronomical.
Bryant, who caught the fireball over northwest of Brandon, Manitoba, told Newsweek: "After hearing on a local Facebook group about a meteor sighting and they gave a precise time and direction I went through the recording of the camera that was pointed that direction and saw it. I was very excited."
Steve Hupé caught the meteor clearly streaking towards the ground as he was driving in Stony Mountain, Manitoba, audibly exclaiming as he spotted the fireball.
Hupé said in his report to the AMS: "This was caught on dashcam and I observed about 15 other cars on the same bearing as me so this was likely seen by many people on the road."
The majority of the reports received by the AMS centered around Winnipeg. A video shot in the region by Monica Cabral shows why this may be the case, displaying the fireball lightly up a clear and dark sky.
Bryant said that he had set the equipment up for just such an eventuality. "The camera system I set up to watch the skies caught what I was hoping—a spectacular event. So I'm hoping to catch more events like this."
Young concluded: "We've had more video of these events than ever before. With a video, you don't need to interview witnesses and rely on memories, it's captured and can be measured."
